14. Over the Seventh Sea

The current we were riding started turning red as we got farther away from Pavidale. It stretched out ahead of us for what must have been miles, with no end in sight. Tryt had been right about how fast we’d be going; it was twice as fast as we had on our way to Pavidale.

Deli found a way to put the shield up without putting us on CRUISE MODE, so that we’d be safe. Still, at that speed it was twenty minutes before Soy and I felt comfortable enough to sit back.

“So, what happens when we get to the mountain?” I asked.

“Truthfully, I don’t know much,” said Deli.

After a few minutes, she spoke again.

“There are supposed to be three tests that you have to pass in order to find the wells.”

“What are they?” I asked.“I meant it when I said that I don’t know much,” she answered. I decided it was better than knowing nothing.

The bed was completely settled by then, and the ride was pretty smooth. I saw land pass by to the east or west… or maybe north or south (I didn’t know which way was which anymore). Mostly we just flew over the water, without anything to mark where we might be. Occasionally, I would see a tiny island below us. Soy asked if we could fly down and stop at the first three that we saw, but Deli refused.

“Tryt’s current won’t last forever. He told us to stay on course and that’s what we’re going to do,” she told Soy.

“Soy, if we find the wells, defeat Ream, save the fairies, and make it out alive, I promise we can come back and look for treasure.”

Soy stopped asking. Any objection to that would imply that we might fail, and nobody wanted to do that.

The few clouds that speckled the sky formed and dispersed quickly, like puffs of smoke. Later on, the current took us straight inside a thin white cloud that gave me a nice feeling as we flew through it. There was nothing inside though- not like Pavidale. I was beginning to like clouds more and more… until I spotted a dark one.

At first it was a black spot in the distance. We watched in awe as it grew larger and larger. Soon, it was flat-out enormous, and it was clear that we were headed straight for it. Instead of being black, it was actually dark grey up close, flashing in random places like there was a lightning storm inside. Eventually, it was almost all that we could see. I got a queasy feeling in my stomach when I recognized the shape it had taken. The dark cloud looked like an ocean wave. It was not a normal shape. I remembered what made clouds take fantastic shapes. This cloud was filled with rile.

“Um, Deli,” I asked. “Can we get off the current now?”

Deli jumped to the controls (formerly known as my phone) and began pushing buttons. I didn’t notice any change. She started pushing them more frantically. Nothing happened. I tried grabbing the pillow to steer but it was glued to the bed and wouldn’t budge.

“What’s going on, Deli?!” Soy screamed as the wave loomed closer. It was the largest storm cloud I had ever seen.